Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Red Sox Offense Blows Up In 5th Inning, Beats Royals (63-38)

Last night, the Red Sox won a slugfest against the Royals by a score of 13-9. The Royals took an early lead in the 1st inning when Eric Hosmer doubled in Melky Cabrera to make it 1-0. Later in the inning, Billy Butler tagged up on a hard line drive to left field to make it 2-0. However, in the bottom of the 1st, a sacrifice fly by Adrian Gonzalez cut it to 2-1 before an RBI double for David Ortiz made it 2-2. With the bases loaded in the 2nd inning, Billy Butler hit a ground-rule double over Josh Reddick's head to make it 4-2. However, the Red Sox got one back in the 3rd on a double for Dustin Pedroia to make it 4-3. Then, a 2-run double for David Ortiz made it 5-4, as the Sox took another lead. In the 4th, the Royals took another lead on a 2-run homer by Alex Gordon and a solo homer by Billy Butler to make it 7-5. In the bottom half, Carl Crawford walked with the bases loaded to make it 7-6. All hell broke loose in the 5th inning, however, as the Sox put runners at 1st and 2nd to start the inning. Drew Sutton then put down an epic bunt, which after two errors, Suttonwound up at 3rd and the score was 8-7 Red Sox. An RBI single by Adrian Gonzalez made it 9-7 later in the inning, and a 2-run single by David Ortiz made it 11-7. A long sacrifice fly by Josh Reddick made it 12-7, scoring Dustin Pedroia. In the 7th inning, Jason Varitek crushed a home run over the green monster to make it 13-7. In the 9th, the Royals got a few runs on RBI singles by Mike Moustakas and Matt Treanor to make it 13-9.

Andrew Miller was, frankly, awful; he allowed 7 runs, 5 earned, in 3 2/3 innings, as he is now 4-1/5.45/17. Alfredo Aceves out of the bullpen, however, was very good, earning the win with 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief, as he is now 6-1/3.28/41, as he's been a great acquisition for Theo. Matt Albers followed with a scoreless inning and Franklin Morales allowed 2 runs in an inning to close the game. Adrian Gonzalez played a great game, going 2-3 with 3 runs and 2 RBIs, as he is now .348/17/84. Dustin Pedroia, on the other hand, played a simply fantastic game, coming just a home run away from the cycle by going 4-5 with 3 runs and an RBI, as he is now .304/13/51. David Ortiz also played a great game, going 4-5 with 5 RBIs, as he is now a fantastic .306/19/64. Jason Varitek only went 1-5, but his one hit was a flat out bomb, that made him .235/6/20. Jacoby Ellsbury did well off the bench, going 2-3 with a run scored. Tonight, John Lackey (8-8/6.28/63) will face Bruce Chen (5-3/3.30/44) in the 3rd game of this 4 game series.

Bright Spots:

Alfredo Aceves- 3 1/3 shutout innings out of the 'pen.

Matt Albers- a scoreless inning of relief

Adrian Gonzalez- 2-3 with 3 runs and 2 RBIs

Dustin Pedroia- 4-5 with 3 runs and an RBI as well as 3/4 of a cycle

David Ortiz- 4-5 with 5 RBIs

Jacoby Ellsbury- 2-3 with 1 run off the bench

Dull Spots:

Andrew Miller- 7 runs in 3 2/3 innings in a bad start

Franklin Morales- 2 runs in 1 inning out of the bullpen

Darnell McDonald- 0-2 leading off for some reason

Well, this was a fun one to watch, nice and roller-coasterey, hey, I'm a blogger, I can make up words!